Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japan placed Afghanistan at the danger level 4, the highest on the scale, which calls for the “immediate departure of Japanese residents from the country, and said it plans to evacuate the Japanese embassy staff in Kabul.

Before that, a Level 3 warning that calls on people to “cancel travel for any reason” was effective.

The warning, issued by the overseas Foreign Ministry’s safety department, asked the Japanese in Kabul “who can not leave” to exercise utmost caution and contact relevant government organizations to secure safety. The ministry also asked Japanese nationals outside the Afghani capital to leave the country immediately and cancel any plan to travel anywhere in Afghanistan.

The situation in Afganistan is “fluid and unpredictable, with the possibility of terrorism and attacks from the conflicting forces there,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The Japanese government plans to evacuate its embassy staff in Kabul, including diplomates, Kyodo news reported.

“The Afghan situation is developing very rapidly. We are collecting information in cooperation with the United States and European countries,” a foreign ministry official in Tokyo told Kyodo.